Prior to training a new employee, two questions need to be considered:
- What does the employee have to learn how to do – what are the job tasks and requirements?
- How will the employee learn to do the job successfully?
Whether or not the employee has a disability, the answer to the second question will depend on a number of factors, including:
- The employee’s prior experiences – are the job tasks new to the employee?
- The employee’s existing skills and his or her abilities to learn new skills or responsibilities.
- The complexity of the job – does it involve a few basic tasks or a number of tasks?
Before training begins, an analysis of the job and or the job tasks may help identify job requirements and the most useful strategies for training your new employee. It may also help identify any accommodations the employee may need.
A job analysis usually involves identifying a major tasks or functions of a job and the order in which they are performed.
A task analysis is used to break specific tasks of a job into a number of steps. The sequence of the steps to be performed is usually identified.
A task analysis will be most useful for people who will best learn when job tasks are broken down into smaller steps that can be taught one by one. Trainers can then use training strategies for each step and identify the steps or tasks that are most difficult for the new employee.
